Birthdays! Birthdays! Surprise!!!

Our chef knows how to do all the tricks and our waitress gives Levi a big hug.

A special birthday dessert - a sundae with a sparkler in it.
Thurmans all the way from Alabama.  Joe meets Griffin.


Becca outdid herself with the cake and George designed a book for letters.
The new babies in the family
Anna's Mom & Dad came to lend a hand with all the work and grandkids.  Wonderful friends!

It was an eventful weekend with a major '60' birthday surprise party for Harry.  Our kids took it on from start to finish and invited a few friends and fixed lots of good food.  He thought he was going to a birthday party for grandson, Levi whose birthday is the day after Harry's so there was no thought that it was anything other than that.  When he walked in and saw some of his friends singing Happy Birthday that was his first clue.  We were very surprised to have our old friends the Thurmans make the trip all the way up from Alabama for the occasion.  The kids arranged for a family photo after the party.  All-in-all the best of times!  

Last night we compensated for the fact that it wasn't a birthday party for Levi and took him out to the Japanese restaurant for his birthday (a day late).  He had a great time watching the cooking and trying new foods and chopsticks.  

A Visit to Grandma Simpson

We made a surprise visit to Grandma Simpson this week to introduce Griff to her.  Amber is still on maternity leave and Pat has the summer off from school.  We enjoyed the day!

Dew & Sue Visit

Dewey & Susan came down for the Memorial Day weekend and spent a few days with us.  Dewey proved his skills once again as an expert griller.  Bump & family were here for a couple days and we all enjoyed the great brats, burgs, dogs and pork chops Dewey cooked up on Memorial Day.  Bump's kids were here while he and Teresa spent 2 days house hunting.  Bump started his new job a week ago and the family hope to join him by July 1.   Harry & Dewey and Bump's kids helped us get our garden in.  They really worked hard.  

Daniel became fast friends with Harry while he was here.  We've never had him when his parents weren't with him and it gave us a great chance to get to know the little guy.  He's quite a character.

Spring is for Babies

We've been blessed with 2 beautiful grandsons this Spring.  First, Seth Isaiah - George & Anna's 4th and now Griffin Talmage - Pat & Amber's first.  Seth made the last post.  Griff was born May 18 - about 2 weeks ahead of schedule.  

Spring is Near

I've neglected updates for awhile. This past month we had an Easter egg hunt here at the farm, welcomed new grandson Seth Isaiah to the family, had grandson Nolan this past week, and we are into dirt again! You do well to ask "Why do you want more dirt?" They were removing topsoil at Harry's office to do some landscaping - we can never pass up free dirt. Not only did we get that dirt, we got all the company's dirt for about 2 weeks. They've promised to move it where we want it when the ground dries out - for now it is a fixture on our driveway cement pad. Perhaps another mountain in the making??

Nolan & Levi - The Dirt Mountain

The Swingset Gets Some Use After a Long Winter

One of the first signs Harry's bulbs are coming up. He planted a couple hundred last Fall.

New Grandson Seth

Spoils of the Egg Hunt - Little Kids Inside, Big Kids Outside

Go Diego Go

This news is a bit old now, but a week ago we took Sydney, Nolan, Levi, Natalie and Anna to the Go, Diego, Go! Live show at the Embassy. Fun for all and perfect for kids in the preschool / early grades - fans of Diego and Dora. State Farm sponsored the show so we were treated to free tickets.
In other news - we celebrated Pat's birthday yesterday with Syd & Nolan and George & company. Always fun when the cousins can get together.

I started a class this week through the community connection (sponsored by the schools). It's a class in audio production using the computer. After the CD recording session in December, I decided I'd at least explore the subject to see how one goes about making recordings. It may be my retirement hobby while Harry takes up beekeeping. I doubt I'll learn a lot in 4 - 2 hr. sessions but at least it will be an intro to find out if I actually could or would like to take up recording.

Pokagon Get-Away

We enjoyed a 2-day getaway to Pokagon State Park for the second time this winter. They run a special 2 for 1 nights' stay at the Inn during January & February on Sun. thru Thurs. nights. It's a very relaxing place to go with hot tub, sauna, and fireplaces in many locations. The views, even in winter, are beautiful and there are birds, squirrels and sometimes deer to watch from the wide windows in several places. Thanks to our friend, Bonnie Swing, who comes and takes over with Grandma H. when we are gone, we have no worries at home. It's been a real treat.

One of our favorite spots is the library with fireplace, a wall of books, and always jigsaw puzzles set up on tables in various stages of being done - you can jump in and add a few pieces as you get the urge, then leave it to someone else when you realize these puzzles were donated and most have a bunch of pieces missing. I took my laptop along as they now have wireless Internet throughout, but I must say that it is hit and miss as yet. In fact, it is impossible to keep a connection for more than a few minutes. I suppose they'll be working on that as time goes by. One of my favorite sites is eons.com where they have a collection of "brain games" for us oldsters who need to try to improve a lot of brain functions. I love the daily jigsaw puzzle and my old favorite Sudoku so I do those most days. Gutterball frustrates me so I rarely do that one (bowling with hecklers) but once in awhile I play a game or two of that. I managed to get on the Inn network enough to do my usual dailies. No pieces missing in the jigsaws there!

Here's a shot of Harry in the library:


A snowy view of the courtyard outside our room window:

Grandma Hazel Birthday

Last weekend was a busy one with lots of family on hand to celebrate Grandma Hazel's 87th birthday. Angela's birthday was Sunday so it was a festive weekend. Dewey, Susan, Angela, and Anna arrived Friday evening and we celebrated with Fish of Stroh and a birthday cake. Saturday Amy's, Pat's, and George's joined the crowd and we had another celebration with DQ cake and BBQ ribs. Uncle John, Dew & Sue's granddaughter Ashley from Kokomo and her friend were in on Sunday. Since Bump's couldn't be here, we did a BBQ sauce taste test in his honor on Saturday. I learned that it's hard to do a taste test - too many variables. One problem was that we cooked 4 slabs of baby backs and some were more done than others, thus the texture of the meat affected likes and dislikes to some extent. We tried 4 sauces - all either the classic or original versions of the sauces - Krogers, Montgomery Inn, KC Masterpiece, and Cattleman's. We had votes from 8 of the tasters (Susan, Harry, George, Angela, Amy, Dewey, Linda and Anna). Pat and Amber arrived later and, as everyone knows, Pat is the expert in ribs but they had already eaten and couldn't manage the ribfest. I tallied the numbers, giving the lowest number 1st place (ribs were rated 1 to 4 with 1 being the favorite and 4 the least favorite). Going by that scale the ratings came in this way:

1. Cattlemans
2. Montgomery Inn
3. KC Masterpiece
4. Krogers

Cattlemans was the number 1 pick for Harry, George and Anna. KC Masterpiece was the number 1 pick for Amy. Mongtomery Inn was first place for Susan, Angela, and Linda. Kroger gleaned only 1 first place rating -Dewey.

We decided to try the sauce itself and ratings were far different. Of the 4 people who tried just the sauce - it was unanimous KC Masterpiece was everyone's favorite while Montgomery Inn was everyone's least favorite. Cattleman's fell primarily into 3rd place and Kroger was 2nd place.

We'll have to learn the tips to good testing before we try another attempt.

Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Blowing Out the Candles

2 Cakes!!
Amy, Cole & Logan
Dewey, Angela, Kensi & Anna
Anna Learns the Fast Song Dance
Kensi, Levi & Cole - Into the Fast Song and the Wiggly Squiggly Song

Grandma H. has been having visits from a physical therapist the past two weeks and we're encouraged that, in spite of a bad cough/cold, she is getting around better the past couple days. The PT is teaching us along with her how to do some things a bit easier and with less stress on the joints.

Harry has been busying building his bee brood (house) and expects to get his bees the early part of May. Did you know that bees only live 6 weeks (unless they emerge before frost and are confined to the hive for a period longer than that? Also, they are born with all the knowledge they need - there is no learned behavior. I guess if you only live 6 weeks, that's pretty important. He keeps sharing all these interesting facts about bees.

Christmas 2007

It's been a busy and exciting Christmas. All of our family was here on the 26th and the house was full of grandkids - nothing makes Grandpa happier than that!

Harry (Bump as he is called by family) arranged a special Christmas treat. He reserved 4 hours at a recording studio to put together a family CD and it was the best time ever. We make no claims to perfection, but we so enjoyed the time and now have a remembrance of all the good times that music brought to our family.

Our thanks to three wonderful daughters-in-law who took charge of the 13 grandchildren while we were there and to Courtney, Hal & Tyler who entertained the young ones in our absence.

Deck the Halls with Lots of Grandkids!

And Grandma, Too

Levi and His First Preschool Program

Had a good time recently watching Levi's preschool Christmas program. Levi has lots of spirit and puts his all into everything he does. Natalie and I made an early retreat as soon as the program was over and had a little date of our own - to the ice cream shop and then a short drive to see the neighborhood Christmas lights.



Harry will be in his new office on the north side starting Monday (Dec. 19). He'll be located in an office near the Dupont Hospital - 5 minutes from home so I expect will see him for lunch most days. After all these years, he finally has a prime spot in the new office. He has a corner office with windows on two sides.

We went to Frankfort on Tuesday and celebrated Mom's birthday with my sister Marleta, her daughter Anita, and my brother Roy. We had a good visit and the Manor did up a nice dinner for us in one of their small private dining room areas.

Snowball Fight

Down on the Farm

For the fun and fancy of some of the grandkids, we had to try the JibJab. The kids went wild over Bump's movies last weekend when they were here.

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Syd and H.O. - Way to Go

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Plugging Away

It's been a couple weeks with nothing monumental going on. I got into the winter nesting mode and started cleaning out closets and drawers, trying to make some space here and there and not wanting to feel trapped by excessive "stuff" all winter.

We've been excited about the prospects of two more grandkids in the family next Spring/Summer. We'll have to set up tents out back when the whole family comes to visit. Last night George & Anna came over with the kids and stayed with Grandma H. while we went to the movie, "Bella." It was a good movie, though short - not even 90 minutes but well done and we had a good time. We brought back drumsticks (ice cream type) for the kids and they dug right into them - including Sam:


Ice cream mustaches are way fun!! Just like grandparents to send the grandkids home full of sugar two hours past their bedtime.

We were so enthralled with Bump's Jib Jab movies that we had to make some for Sydney & Nolan when they were here last weekend. I'll try to post them here.